Image Credit: Supercell
I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love racing games, MMOs, and shooters, but I'll play just about anything.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
If I had to guess what card in Clash Royale has been most popular overall since the game came out, I’d guess Hog Rider. He only targets buildings, jumps over the river, and does tons of tower damage for relatively low effort. Some Hog Rider decks just want to spam him over and over with little real strategy, while others can be amongst the most difficult decks to play. In this article I’ll take a look at three great Hog Rider decks, all of which can help get you to the top of the ladder!
How to Play Hog Rider
Hog Rider isn’t a hard card to play. He’s a ground-based troop that only targets buildings, so the best counters for him are buildings like Tombstone, Goblin Hut, or any other building that can reliably kill him before he can do the same. Most of the time, the best way to play Hog Rider is just to throw him on the bridge and let him charge forward. Using troops to support him is helpful, but not always necessary. He demands an answer, so you can just use spells to counter whatever they try to counter him with.
For example, if your opponent is using buildings to defend against Hog Rider, you can counter with Earthquake. If they’re using swarms like Skeleton Army, you can use the Log or Barbarian Barrel. Even more complicated-to-beat counters like Mini P.E.K.K.A. can be reliably dealt with if with something like Ice Golem, Skeletons, or Snowball (and more) if you plan ahead properly.
Hog Cycle + Furnace Evo
Cards:
- Furnace (Evo)
- Cannon (Evo)
- Mighty Miner
- Hog Rider
- Earthquake
- Barbarian Barrel
- Skeletons
- Electro Spirit
As is the case with all the decks I’ve featured here, the main goal here is to cycle through your cards so you can play as many Hog Riders as possible. This is made possible by having multiple cheap cards that can be quickly “cycled” out of your hand to get back to another Hog Rider. Skeletons and Electro Spirit are the cheapest cards, with both also providing some support/distraction capabilities other than just being cheap. Barbarian Barrel could also be used for this purpose, even though it is usually valuable enough to save for specific purposes like countering swarms that attack Hog Rider or to counter Goblin Barrel.
Outside of just cycling cards and playing Hog Rider, the two evolutions here both provide massive defensive bonuses. Furnace is great for defending against any flying troop or swarm, so it’s perfect for backing up a Hog Rider push. Cannon is a staple in Hog Rider decks of all kinds, and the evolution makes it even better. It gains some wave clear capabilities and is great for cheaply defending while you use elixir to focus on offense.
As with most Hog Rider decks, this deck is super aggressive. When you drop a Hog Rider on the battlefield, immediately prepare your spells for defense. If you know your opponent has buildings, have Earthquake ready to go ASAP. If you expect Guards, Skeletons, etc., get the Barbarian Barrel ready as soon as the Hog Rider is down. It’s all about predicting what your opponent is going to do… just remember that you won’t always get it right.
Hog Cycle + Musketeer Evo
Cards:
- Musketeer (Evo)
- Cannon (Evo)
- Hog Rider
- Fireball
- Ice Golem
- Ice Spirit
- Skeletons
- The Log
This variant of Hog Rider cycle deck is the most “old school” of the ones I’m featuring here. It’s pretty much the old version that was super popular before evolutions released and shifted the meta up, but with evolutions of its own. Musketeer is capable of defending against almost any air attack, and its evolution allows it to defend Hog Rider all the way from the other side of the arena. Cannon is a great cheap defensive building that defends against a lot more than you might expect, especially with its evolution allowing it to take out low-HP troops across the battlefield.
Most of the rest of this deck is pretty typical defense and cheap cards to cycle through. Fireball and The Log are strong spells for helping Hog Rider stay safe as it attacks, and Ice Spirit and Skeletons are cheap cards to cycle through and use to help out where possible. But the most important card in this whole deck, other than Hog Rider, is Ice Golem. It’s a 2-elixir tank that only targets buildings, which makes it perfect for covering for Hog Rider. It can also defend really well once you figure out how to make enemy troops follow it around and soak up damage.
This deck is as aggressive as they get, so don’t be afraid to use Hog Rider as much as possible. Learning to defend against big pushes with such limited resources is hard, so it’s important to utilize every resource possible and learn the best methods to utilize every single troop you have.
Hog Cycle + Firecracker/Snowball Evo
Cards:
- Firecracker (Evo)
- Snowball (Evo)
- Hog Rider
- Vines
- Mega Minion
- Guards
- Barbarian Barrel
- Skeletons
For the last Hog Rider deck on my list, I have yet another deck focused on cheap cards and cycling Hog Riders. The evolutions are Firecracker and Snowball, both of which stand out since they’re cheap and blend into the cycling theme. Firecracker is one of the best troops for defense and support, as she’s cheap and has a large AOE. She can back up Hog Rider really well against many of his biggest weaknesses, and she also baits enemies into using spells that might have otherwise targeted Hog Rider. Snowball has two purposes. The main one is just to knock back troops and clear swarms (and counter Goblin Barrel), but the evolved version helps out even more. You can use it to clear a path for Hog Rider, making counters like Mini P.E.K.K.A. useless.
Mega Minion and Guards are two more defense troops that I like a lot, mainly because they have multiple uses and are cheap. Mega Minion can reliably take out Balloon and contribute to killing tanks, and Guards can survive attacks long enough to solid damage to just about any enemy. Barbarian Barrel and Vines both function to clear the way for Hog Rider similar to how Snowball does so, so I think they also both fit the general theme here.
This deck is just as aggressive as every Hog Rider deck, so no surprise there. Just be careful with your defensive cards, as using them wrong can be devastating. Hog Rider is so popular that the ways to counter him are pretty universally known, even for less experienced players, so you can’t ever get too cocky when playing him.
Clash Royale Navigation
- Clash Royale: All Cards Ranked (2025)
- Clash Royale: Spirit Empress Guide
- Clash Royale: Best Tower Troops
- Clash Royale: Best Cards for Draft Battles
- Clash Royale: How to Win Mega Draft and Best Cards
- Clash Royale: All Champion Abilities Ranked
- Clash Royale: All Spell Cards Ranked
- Clash Royale: Best Evolutions, Ranked
- Clash Royale: All Champion Cards Ranked Worst to Best
- Clash Royale: Best Legendary Cards, Ranked
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 20 (Boot Camp)
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 19 (Dragon Spa)
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 18 Silent Sanctuary
- Clash Royale: Best Deck for Arena 17 (Royal Crypt)
- Clash Royale: Best Deck for Arena 16 (Executioner’s Kitchen)
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 13 Rascal’s Hideout
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 11 Electro Valley
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 8 Frozen Peak
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 7 Royal Arena
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 3 Barbarian Bowl
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 2 Bone Pit
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 1 – Starter Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 5 Builder’s Workshop
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 15 Miner’s Mine
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 9 – Jungle Arena
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 12 Spooky Town
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 6 P.E.K.K.A.’s Playhouse
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 10 Hog Mountain
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 14 Serenity Peak
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 4 Spell Valley
- Clash Royale: Best Ways to Spend Gems and Gold
- Clash Royale: Spirit Empress Guide
- Clash Royale: Merge Tactics Beginner’s Guide
- Clash Royale: 7 Best Win Cons (2025)
- Clash Royale: Best Tower Troops
- Clash Royale: How to Win Mega Draft and Best Cards
- Clash Royale: All Champion Abilities Ranked
- Clash Royale: A Getting Started Guide
- Clash Royale: News & Events
- Supercell Games: Clash Royale vs Clash of Clans vs Brawl Stars
- Clash Royale: Beginner Guide, Tips, and Strategy
- Clash Royale: Best X-Bow Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Inferno Dragon Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Hog Rider Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Balloon Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Lumberjack Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Three Musketeers Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Giant Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Sparky Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Evolved Baby Dragon Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Miner Decks (2025)
- Clash Royale: Best Prince Decks (2025)
- Clash Royale: Best Free-2-Play Decks (2025)
- Clash Royale: Best Royal Recruits Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Touchdown Decks
- Clash Royale: Best War Decks
- Clash Royale: Best 2v2 Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Mega Knight Decks
- Clash Royale: Super Witch & Hexed Havoc Best Decks Strategy
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